That Summer

by Joan Wolf

  “He never really was involved with the horses though, was he?”

  “No. My grandfather was big into horses—he bred On Course, the stallion who won the English Derby. He was the one who started me in the horse business. I just took over from him after he died.”

  “My dad liked working for your grandfather.”

  “I know. And Grandpa thought your dad was a genius.”

  I smiled. “He was.”

  “You won't get any argument from me.”

  At this point, Jen arrived with our food and our conversation turned to a different subject.

  When we got home, Liam got out of the car and walked me to my front door. As I said goodnight to him he suddenly began to glower.

  “Do you kiss the boyfriends when they take you home?”

  “That's none of your business,” I replied mildly.

  “Did you kiss Kevin?”

  “Let's not get into this again, Liam. I would be happy to kiss you, but you don't want me to. So stop complaining about me and other men.”

  “Jesus, Annie. You've got me so confused.”

  This was good news.

  “What's to be confused about?” I asked.

  “I'm confused about the way I feel about you. You're right. I am being a dog in the manger. I don't feel right kissing you myself, but I don't want you to kiss anyone else.”

  “Let's just try one little kiss,” I suggested. “You can see if it's all that terrible.”

  “Well… okay.” He bent his head and I tilted my face up to him. His lips touched mine and, with heroic self control, I responded gently. For a kiss it was short and sweet.

  He lifted his head and I smiled up at him and said, “Look. You're still alive.”

  “I didn't think I was going to be struck dead.”

  “Sometimes you act that way.”

  “This was okay,” he said.

  “Good. Now I've had a busy day and I want to see how Mom is doing. Goodnight, Liam.”

  “Goodnight, Annie.”

  I walked into the house, went to the window and watched him return to his car and drive away.

  CHAPTER 18

  On Tuesday one of the horses stepped on my foot and almost broke it. It was one of the yearlings being silly, and I wasn't fast enough to get out of the way.

  Man did it hurt.

  Liam had just stopped by a minute before in time to hear me holler and he came running. I was hopping around grimacing with pain.

  “What happened?”

  “Sparky stepped on my foot.”

  Liam called, “Jacko, come and take this horse. Annie just got stepped on.”

  I had been stepped on before, but nothing had ever hurt like this one. “I hope it's not broken,” I said worriedly.

  I am like that when I get hurt or sick. I always foresee the worst.

  “Let's get ice on it right away; then I'll take you to the hospital for an X-ray.”

  “Okay.”

  “Come on, I'll carry you out to the truck.”

  I started to say I could hop, but I bit the words back before they came out of my mouth. It would be nice to be carried by Liam.

  “Put your arms around my neck,” he ordered.

  I obeyed and he bent, scooped me up in his arms and began to walk toward the barn door. He carried me as easily as if I weighed ten pounds.

  It was lovely, being held by him like this. The pleasure of his closeness did a good job of distracting me from the pain in my foot. He slid me into the truck's passenger seat, then went around to get in on the other side. He shoed away the Lab who had accompanied him.

  “Sorry, fellow, you're going to have to get back home under your own steam.” He started the motor and said, “I'm going to take you back to the house and we'll get some ice for that foot. Then we'll go to the hospital.”

  We arrived at the house five minutes later and he carried me from the truck into the kitchen, where he parked me on a wooden chair. “There are always ice packs in the freezer,” he said, taking one out. “You need to take your boot off, Annie.”

  I bent down and unlaced my boot. I started to pull my foot out of it and winced.

  “Unlace the whole boot,” Liam said. “Here, let me do it.” He knelt in front of me and unlaced my boot. Gently he eased my foot out. “Okay?”

  “Okay,” I returned.

  He peeled my sock off. “It's red,” he said.

  “It really hurts, Liam. I'm nervous. What if it's broken?”

  “It's probably just bruised,” he said soothingly. “We'll get it X-rayed, but first I want to put this ice pack on it. Hold on one sec.” When he returned he was holding a roll of gauze. “I'll wrap the pack on to keep it in place and then we'll go to the hospital.”

  What am I going to do if my foot is broken? I thought. How can I continue training the horses ? How can I start back to work again? Will they put it in a cast?

  I asked Liam, “Do they put broken feet in a cast?”

  He looked up from his wrapping. “You are incredible. You always imagine the worst. Remember the time you got poison ivy and you thought it was leprosy?”

  “I had just read that book. …” I justified myself.

  “This is probably just bruised. Stop worrying until you find out you really do have something to worry about.”

  He finished wrapping the gauze. “Okay. We'll leave the sock and boot off.” He bent and picked me up again. I slid my left arm around his neck. His body felt so strong and hard against mine. He smelled the way he always did. Put me blindfolded in a room anywhere in the world, and I could pick out Liam by his smell.

  He carried me out to the truck and put me on the front seat. A coonhound came up to the truck, looking to get in. “Not now, Sam,” Liam said firmly, and closed the door on him. Then he went around and got in the driver's side.

  It was a half an hour to the hospital. We didn't talk. Liam drove and I worried about my foot. We went into the emergency room and I had to go into a little office and give all my health insurance information. It was a good time to come in, I guess, because they could take me right away. Liam came with me as we went inside and I sat on one of the beds in a cubicle.

  A nurse took my temperature and my blood pressure and told me the doctor would be with me shortly. We waited perhaps five minutes before a young man in a white medical coat came in the room and introduced himself as Dr. Wheeler.

  I explained about the horse and my foot.

  He felt it and I winced. “We'll get an X-ray,” he said. “That's the best way to find out if anything is broken.”

  They put me in a wheelchair and took me to the X-ray department, where my foot was photographed. Then I was returned to my cubicle, where Liam was waiting for me.

  It didn't take long for the doctor to come back. “Nothing's broken,” he said cheerfully. “It's just a nasty bruise.”

  I felt a rush of relief. A bruise I could live with.

  “Didn't I tell you so, Annie?” Liam demanded.

  “I know. I know.”

  “The best treatment is what you've been doing,” the doctor said. “Ice will help to keep the swelling down.”

  “You don't need to wrap it or anything?” I asked.

  “We don't need to wrap a bruise. Just watch your feet when you're around horses.”

  “I usually do.”

  Liam said, “Annie is a veterinarian.”

  “Really? You look young to be a vet.”

  “You look young to be a doctor,” I said.

  He laughed. “Touché. Do you practice around here?”

  “My practice is up in Maryland but I'm here for a few weeks visiting my mother. She lives in Midville.”

  We exchanged a few more pleasantries and then I turned to Liam. He was looking like a thundercloud. I said, “We left my sock and my boot at home, Liam. Do you think you could carry me out to the truck?”

  The doctor said, “We have booties I could give you.”

  “Thank you anyway, but I will c
arry her.” Liam's tone did not match his polite words. He looked at me. “Are you ready, Annie?”

  “Yes. Thank you, doctor.”

  “You're welcome.”

  Liam picked me up and we began to walk out of the hospital. “That doctor is probably going to ask you out,” he said sourly.

  “I suppose I should be flattered that you seem to think every man I meet is after me. But, actually, it's rather annoying.”

  “You don't realize how beautiful you are, Annie. You were always cute, but you've turned into a beauty. You have to be careful. If you're too nice to a man he'll think you're interested.”

  “You know what, Liam? I have been dating since I was nineteen years old. I know how to conduct myself around men.”

  I wondered if he realized how tightly he was holding me.

  “Would you go out with that doctor if he asked you?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I would never marry a doctor. Their hours are as bad as a vet's.”

  “Aha! So you admit you are thinking about marriage. I thought you told me you wouldn't marry Michael Bates, but you're going out with him.”

  We had reached the truck but he didn't put me down.

  I said, “Every woman thinks about marriage, Liam. I would like to have a big family, so I need a husband. Naturally, I think about the men I am dating in that role.”

  “Then you have considered marrying Michael Bates.”

  “You can rest easy,” I said. “I crossed him off my list of prospects.”

  “How about in Maryland? Do you have any ‘prospects’ there?”

  “Can we continue this conversation in the truck?” I was having a hard time keeping a clear head with him so near.

  “Certainly,” he said stiffly, opened the door and slid me in.

  “Well?” he said once he was sitting behind the wheel. “Do you?”

  “Do I what?”

  “Damn it, Annie, don't be cute. Do you have any‘prospects’?”

  “I am going out with someone, yes. But it isn't serious.”

  “It may not be serious on your side but I bet it's serious on his.”

  “How did you know that?”

  “Haven't you heard a word I've said to you? You are a very desirable woman.”

  “You talk about me as if I'm a femme fatale or something, Liam. I assure you that is not the case at all. And I think we should change the subject.”

  He started the truck. “Do you want to make a bet that that doctor calls you?”

  “You'd lose. If I lived locally, then I agree he might, but he's not going to call for a date with a woman who lives in Maryland.”

  “You sound very positive.”

  “I told you, I've been dating for a while.”

  “Have you ever … er … done it?”

  I wouldn't give him an inch. “Done what?”

  “Had sex.”

  “Yes,” I said calmly. I have.”

  “With the man you were almost engaged to?”

  “Yes. And the sex was very good. That wasn't what caused me to break up with him.”

  He didn't say anything but he didn't look happy.

  “Liam, why don't we try just dating? I'm only home for a few more weeks. Let's see if it leads to something.”

  A muscle twitched on the side of his jaw. “Okay. Let's try it.”

  I smiled.

  “What about taking a picnic lunch down to the swimming hole? That would be fun.”

  When we were children we had spent many a hot summer afternoon in the pond created by Martin's Creek on the edge of the Wellington property.

  “I guess I could manage that.”

  “I'll bring the lunch.”

  “Okay. Come by the house and we'll take one of the trucks. Are you sure you can walk?”

  “The doctor said walking wouldn't hurt me.”

  “You could dunk your foot in the pond. The water should be cold enough this time of year.”

  “That's a good idea.”

  He dropped me off at home and I limped into the house. Mom was at school and it was quiet. I went upstairs and debated about what I should wear. The day was sunny and warm and I decided that I would wear jean shorts, so Liam could see my legs. I put on a long-sleeved cotton pullover sweater, white crew socks and sneakers. Then I went back downstairs to make our lunch.

  I put the lunch basket in the car and drove back to Wellington, parked in front of the house and got out. Liam was waiting for me on the porch.

  “You're limping,” he said as I got out of my car and went around to the other side to collect the lunch basket.

  “It still hurts.”

  “Did you take something for it?”

  “I took a couple of Advil.”

  He took the basket from me and we walked over to the truck. Lucy, the Springer spaniel followed us to the truck and I stood aside so she could jump in.

  Liam said, “Let me go and collect a ball to throw for her.”

  “Okay.” I got into the truck next to Lucy. Liam came back with a tennis ball in his hand and joined us in the truck. I put the ball in the picnic basket as we drove away.

  The swimming hole was in the woods, right where Martin Creek entered Wellington property. It was just a small pond, and the middle wasn't even over an adult's head, but the bottom was soft and the water was clean and clear. When we were small my mother used to come with us to lifeguard, but as we grew older and taller we were allowed to come by ourselves.

  “How lucky we were to have this wonderful place to grow up in,” I said to Liam as he spread the blanket he had brought on the high grass.

  I knelt down on the blanket next to the food basket.

  “It's true,” Liam said. “Remember the times we sneaked by here on our ponies and took a swim and never told your mother?”

  I remembered those days vividly. We would strip down to our underwear, go swimming, then sit on one of the rocks to dry before donning our clothes again and going home.

  “Kevin never came with us on those expeditions,” I said. “I wonder why.”

  “He never wanted to leave the house in the summer. He said it was too hot.”

  I laughed. “And now he's living in southern California.”

  “He probably moves from his air-conditioned car to his air-conditioned house to his air-conditioned movie set.”

  I said, “Remember the summer Daddy built us a raft and we played pirate?”

  He laughed, and I laughed too. Liam's laughter always affected me that way. He said, “I was the captain and you were my loyal mate.”

  “I always got the second-place jobs,” I said mildly.

  “That's because I was older and bigger.”

  “And bossier.”

  “That too.”

  Liam stretched out on his back and put his hands behind his head. The sun was deliciously warm and he narrowed his eyes. I looked at his lean hard body resting so trustingly next to me. I didn't know if all this reminiscing about the past was a good idea or not.

  I lay down on my stomach next to him and propped myself on my elbows. “I think Kevin had a very lonely childhood,” I said. “Your parents weren't that attentive to either of you and he didn't have the advantage of hanging out at my house, the way you did.”

  “He never wanted to do any work,” Liam said. “He liked to ride, and he's a decent rider, but when it came to currying and brushing the horse after the ride, he'd leave that to the grooms. You know how you and I would hang around when the horses were shod? Kevin never wanted to do that. He didn't like getting dirty.”

  “He was very smart in school,” I said.

  “Very. It was the one thing he could beat me at.”

  He turned his head and looked at me. Our faces were very close. “Are you feeling sorry for Kevin, Annie?”

  “I don't feel sorry for him now. He's landed in a field of clover. But I am sorry that he didn't have a more loving childhood.”

  “He did okay. Ev
en when he was a kid, Kevin was good at looking out for himself.”

  His eyes were on my mouth and his voice sounded husky. I said, “Do you want to eat?”

  He blinked. “Sure.”

  “I'm afraid we didn't have any cold cuts in the house, but these sandwiches should remind you of the old days.”

  He bit into the sandwich I had handed him. “Peanut butter and jelly! I haven't had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in years.”

  “Is it good?”

  “It's terrific.”

  I unscrewed the thermos of orange juice and filled a glass. It gave me such pleasure, to give him a sandwich and pour a glass of juice for him.

  The lock of hair had tumbled down over his forehead and my fingers itched to smooth it back. His fingers looked dark against the white bread of the sandwich. Liam always looked as if he had a tan.

  He smiled at me. “This is nice.”

  “Yes sir, Captain Wellington.”

  His smile broadened. “Good job, Mate Foster.”

  We laughed, a low intimate sound. Then Lucy, who had been investigating the surrounding woods, came up to Liam looking for him to throw something for her.

  I got to my feet. “I'm going to go soak my foot.”

  Liam fished the tennis ball out of the basket. “Come on, Lucy. Do you want to swim?”

  I sat on one of the rocks that bordered the pond and took off my shoes and socks. Then I waded in.

  The water was cold.

  Liam stood on the shore and threw the ball for Lucy, who flew after it, ears streaming back in the breeze she created. Water splashed as she tracked down the ball. Then she had it and was coming back, swimming until she could touch ground and start her tail wagging.

  How many times have I watched Liam throw a ball for a dog? Why does watching him now make me want to cry?

  I was so close to him. Closer, I thought, than anyone else in the world. And yet I was so far away.

  We stayed for another half an hour, then we loaded the picnic basket and the dog back into the truck and went home.

  CHAPTER 19

  Tuesday night I rented a movie and Liam drove into Mom's to watch it with me. We sat together on the sofa, with a bowl of popcorn on the coffee table, and watched a Julia Roberts film that had just come out on video.

  I was so conscious of Liam, whose shoulder was touching mine, that I had a hard time concentrating on the movie. Halfway through the film his hand closed over mine and we watched the remainder of the movie that way.